But here’s what I keep learning the hard way—God loves us too much to leave us in the dark. As Jesus said, “See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness” (Luke 11:35, NIV). We must die to certain ways of seeing ourselves that keep us in the dark. We must die to ways of doing life that blind us. We must die to old ways of leading or to expectations of where God’s path to the “promised land” will take us. It’s why Jesus said we must die daily: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it” (Luke 9:23-24, ESV).

Here are some signs that something needs to die:

• Your spouse or family keeps telling you they miss you or need you, and you feel defensive rather than sad. 
• Your body’s telling you the false self is hurting it—eye twitches, rumbling stomach, sleep problems, headaches, Monday morning adrenaline “hangovers.” 
• Your staff or volunteers hint that you’re “too high control” or need to trust them more.
• Others try to teach you, and you feel resistance—“I’m supposed to be the teacher, not the learner.” 
• You often feel unrecognized, underappreciated or left out.
• You quickly find blame to “explain” all that does not go well.

God wants us to become the kinds of people who can bring His kingdom will and ways to light the world around us—but “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). So God allows us to hit walls where nothing works as expected, where others wound and hurt us, where God even lets us down, where life as we know it feels like it’s dying. Let it die, and you will live. Let it die, and you will be free to live for God and lead like Christ.

John Burke is lead pastor of Gateway Church in Austin, Texas, and the author of No Perfect People Allowed. Visit John at johnburkeonline.com.

For the original article, visit johnburkeonline.com.

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